Transition Board of Directors

Elinor Wilson

Chair

Dr. Elinor Wilson has worked in the academic and public sectors, and at the international, national and provincial levels. She has published extensively on a variety of public health issues including women’s health.

Wilson served most recently as president of Assisted Human Reproduction, a federal regulatory agency established to promote health, safety, dignity and rights for Canadians who use or are born of assisted human reproduction technologies. Previously, she served as CEO of the Canadian Public Health Association, where she was responsible for managing an operating program and project budget of more than $15 million and for building relationships with stakeholders in the public, private, and non-governmental sectors.

Wilson holds a PhD in administration management from Walden University in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and a Master of Health Sciences degree from McMaster University. Her numerous professional activities include membership of the Institute of Population and Public Health Advisory Board at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. She was formerly vice-president of the World Heart Federation, president of the Inter-American Heart Foundation, and chair of the Canadian Coalition for Public Health in the 21st Century.

Transition Board of Directors

Richard Rees

Vice Chair

Richard Rees was president and CEO of Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia from December 2013 to March 2017, having served as CEO of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of BC since 1999. Prior to that he was CEO of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of BC and Yukon for nine years. He also served as a director of the BC Health Research Foundation and PROOF, a biomarker development program based at St. Paul’s Hospital.

Richard chaired the national Council of Chief Executives for the Canadian CPA profession, and has had extensive involvement in the profession’s certification education, professional development, and international professional recognition programs.

A graduate of the London School of Economics, Richard has been widely recognized for his professional leadership, including a national Top 40 Under 40 Award, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the CA profession, and the Queen’s Jubilee Medal. He is also active in the community, currently serving as Chair of Vancouver Opera, and has previously served Family Services of the North Shore (Chair), West Vancouver Community Foundation (director), Vancouver Foundation (Finance Committee), and Family Services Canada (Treasurer).

Transition Board of Directors

Max Blouw

Dr. Max Blouw was appointed President of The Research Universities’ Council of British Columbia effective October 1, 2019. He relocated to British Columbia from Ontario where, as President and Vice-Chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University from 2007 to 2017, he championed evidence-based decision-making, research and graduate students. He also served as Chair of the Council of Ontario Universities and as a member of Universities Canada. Prior to that, from 1995 to 2007, he was professor of biology, and subsequently Vice-President Research, at the University of Northern British Columbia. He has held lead roles in numerous organizations and has served on many boards, including three universities.

Dr. Blouw has BSc and MSc degrees from the University of Manitoba, and a PhD in biology from the University of New Brunswick. He is also an Institute of Corporate Directors Certified Director.

He is married to Lynn and has two adult sons, Carl and Peter.

Transition Board of Directors

Doug Cochrane

Doug has served as the Chair of the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council (BCPSQC) and as the Provincial Patient Safety & Quality Officer from 2008 to 2019. In 2017 he was appointed as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Interior Health Authority.

As Board Chair, Doug has served as Co-Chair of the Partnership Accord Leadership Table. The Partnership Accord Leadership Table is a joint Committee of Interior Health and the First Nations of the Interior Region committed to improving the health and wellness outcomes for First Nations people of the Region. PALT takes action through partnership and shared decision making in the areas of cultural safety and humility, quality improvement, and equity in the context of holistic wellness worldview.
Doug also Co-Chairs the Metis Nation BC – Interior Leadership Table.
Doug retired from clinical practice in 2017 after a three-decade career as a paediatric neurosurgeon at BC Children’s Hospital and Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children in Vancouver and the Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids) in Toronto. During that time, he served in leadership roles supporting BC Children’s Hospital, the Children’s and Women’s Health Centre, the Provincial Health Services Authority and Sick Kids. He also chaired the BC Patient Safety Task Force from its inception in 2003 to the creation of the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council and was a past Chair of the Canadian Patient Safety Institute and of the BC Academic Health Sciences Network.

Currently, Doug serves on the and Canuck Place Children’s Hospice and co-chairs the BC Medical Quality Initiative.

A committed teacher and mentor, Doug was appointed Professor Emeritus by the University of British Columbia’s Department of Surgery in 2016. He continues to serve as Faculty for the BCPSQC Quality Academy and Clinician Quality Academy programs, as well as the Sauder Physician Leadership program at the University of British Columbia.

Transition Board of Directors

Kathryn Hayashi

Kathryn Hayashi is President and CEO of TRIUMF Innovations, the business interface and commercialization arm, connecting TRIUMF, Canada’s particle accelerator centre, to the private sector via industry partnerships, licensing, and company creation.

Ms. Hayashi was appointed CEO in 2017 and has more than 25 years of operational and strategic planning, finance and governance experience in not-for-profit organizations, public and private companies, start-ups, and commercialization accelerators/incubators.

Prior to TRIUMF Innovations, from 2006 – 2017, she was the Founding Chief Financial Officer of The Centre for Drug Research and Development (now known as adMare BioInnovations), Canada’s national drug development and commercialization engine. In addition, Ms. Hayashi’s previous experience includes hands-on roles as CFO for a publicly listed biotechnology company, Trade Section Administrator for the Canadian Embassy in Mexico, and General Manager for a group of entertainment industry companies.

Ms. Hayashi is also a Chartered Professional Accountant, and presides as a Director and Audit Committee Chair of the Center for Commercialization and Cancer Immunotherapy at the Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont, as well as the Discovery Parks technology incubator, and has served on the boards of several spinoff companies.

Transition Board of Directors

Sunny Loo

Sunny Loo is a volunteer with the Patients as Partners/Patient Voice Network, a patient partner on the Research Ethics BC Advisory Board, and an active member of the BC SUPPORT Unit Patient Council.

A pharmacist by training with a focus on technology and innovation, Sunny’s 40 plus years in the profession included development of innovative patient support programs, implementation of medication management pilot programs in several provincial jurisdictions, project management, and participation in the Ontario e-Health initiative as Director of e-Health for the Ontario Pharmacists Association.

Sunny and his wife recently retired their consulting practice that strove to better understand physician practices.

However, most importantly, Sunny is a patient living with a rare form of vasculitis (Wegener’s Granulomatosis) for the past 12 years. Having been a part of the healthcare system as both a professional and as a patient, he looks forward to sharing his experience with others.

Sunny is a patient partner on the Vancouver Island Health Authority Medication System & Therapeutic Quality Council and the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program. He served as the Patient Advisor for the VIHA Quality Operations Council until 2019.

Sunny is a current member and a past co-chair of the BC SUPPORT UNIT Patient Council and is actively involved in several Patient Oriented Research related initiatives.

Sunny completed his internship as a peer to peer (patient) researcher with the PaCER (Patient and Community Engagement Research) Innovates Program through the University of Calgary. He, along with his PaCER team, will soon be submitting the results of their internship research study, A PATIENT LED, PEER-TO-PEER QUALITATIVE STUDY ON THE PSYCHOSOCIAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PATIENTS WITH INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE (IBD) AND FOOD, for publication.

He is TCPS 2: Core certified.

Sunny and his wife are enjoying retirement in Sooke BC, along with their three Brussels Griffon dogs.

Transition Board of Directors

Lyana Patrick

Lyana Patrick is Dakelh from the Stellat’en First Nation and Acadian/Scottish. She has worked in communications and education for over two decades. She was Education Coordinator in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia where she worked on curriculum development, managed education programs, and promoted knowledge translation of Indigenous research findings to health care providers and health sciences students. She has worked on evaluation projects connected to Indigenous health and education, including for the City of Vancouver where she helped design community engagement for a municipal poverty reduction strategy. She received a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship to pursue a PhD in the School of Community and Regional Planning where in 2019 she became the first Indigenous PhD graduate. Lyana is currently an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences where her work focuses on the intersection of Indigenous health, planning and justice. She incorporates film and other multimedia in her work and is committed to public scholarship as a creative and collaborative process of exploration with Indigenous communities.

Transition Board of Directors

Geoff Payne

Dr. Geoff Payne is the current Interim President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Northern British Columbia. Prior to taking on this role in January 2020, he served as the Vice-President, Research since 2015. Dr. Payne is also a Professor with Division of Medical Sciences in the field of vascular physiology. During time at UNBC, Dr. Payne has served in a number of leadership roles including the inaugural Assistant Dean for Education and Research between 2009-2015 and the Founding Director of the UNBC Health Research
Institute.

Dr. Payne came to UNBC in June 2004 as founding faculty of the medical school following a Post-Doctoral fellowship at Yale University in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology and John B. Pierce Laboratory. He holds a PhD from Memorial University of Newfoundland in the field of cardiovascular and renal physiology.

Dr. Payne maintains an active biomedical research program with interests in vascular physiology and inflammation.

Transition Board of Directors

Ian Rongve

Dr. Ian Rongve joined the Ministry of Health in June 2016 as the Assistant Deputy Minister Provincial, Hospital and Laboratory Health Services Division. In May 2020, Ian was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister of the COVID Response and Health Emergency Management Division, ensuring an ongoing, focused response to supporting the health system within the context of COVID-19. In June of 2021, Dr. Rongve was appointed the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Strategy and Innovation Division.

The Strategy and Innovation Division supports British Columbia’s population and patients in accessing new innovations in care, British Columbia’s health services and health infrastructure in developing and scaling novel and sustainable models of delivery and will drive large scale innovation tackling the systems most significant challenges.

Prior to joining the Ministry of Health, Dr. Rongve was the Assistant Deputy Minister, Knowledge Management and Accountability, at the Ministry of Education. From March 2012 to November 2013, he was the Assistant Deputy Minister, Sector Strategy and Quality Assurance Division, at the Ministry of Advanced Education.

Dr. Rongve holds a Ph.D. in economics. He spent eight years as an Assistant Professor at the University of Regina, before moving back to British Columbia and joining the public service. He has worked in senior roles in the Ministries of Finance, Health, Advanced Education and Education.

Transition Board of Directors

Martin Schechter

Dr. Martin Schechter is a Professor, and formerly the Founding Director, of the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia (UBC).

Martin combines interests in clinical epidemiology and health services research with HIV/AIDS and urban health research. He is Co-Director of the recently established Centre for Excellence in Indigenous Health at UBC. He was a co-founder of the CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network, a national network of investigators and research facilities aimed at conducting trials of HIV therapies, preventions, and vaccines and served as National Director of the Network from 1993 to 2014. He also co-founded the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and served as its first Director of Epidemiology and Population Health and is a former director of CHÉOS. He was the founding President of the Canadian Association for HIV Research and co-chaired the XI International Conference on AIDS in Vancouver in 1996. He was President of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences from 2007 to 2009 and served on the Board of Governors of the Council of Canadian Academies during that time. He joined the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research in 2006 as its first Chief Scientific Officer.

Martin is the author of more than 350 peer-reviewed publications and 590 abstracts and scholarly presentations. In 1994, he was invested into the Order of British Columbia for his contributions to research. Dr. Schechter also received the Science Council of British Columbia Gold Medal in 2002, fellowship in the Royal Society of Canada in 2004, and fellowship in the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in 2005.

Transition Board of Directors

Sally Thorne

Dr. Sally Thorne is an academic nursing leader with a program of research in the fields of health care communication, cancer care and supportive end-of-life care at the University of British Columbia’s School of Nursing, where she is a professor and associate dean of Applied Science.

Her research and writing have focused attention on the human experience of seeking and obtaining appropriate care in the Canadian context. She has also been active in developing and refining qualitative methods for application to the inquiries of applied health professions and to knowledge transfer within an evidence-based care context. In her academic capacity, she teaches graduate courses in the philosophy of science, and serves as editor-in-chief of the scholarly journal Nursing Inquiry, as well as associate editor and editorial board member for several other journals in her field. She brings to the Foundation extensive non-profit board experience, including the BC Cancer Agency, the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, the Canadian Association of Nurses in Oncology, and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

Senior Leadership Team

Bev Holmes, PhD, C. Dir

President & CEO

Bev is a health research system leader with experience in practice and academia and a commitment to their integration. She has more than two decades of experience in the funding, production and use of research evidence to improve health.

Working in the field of health and risk communication, Bev championed stakeholder involvement and sees it as key to bringing evidence into practice. Her doctoral degree focused on knowledge translation: the use of research evidence to improve health and health care. Her academic studies fueled her passion for “evidence on evidence use” and she continues to contribute to this body of knowledge, while learning from and applying it.

Bev chairs and sits on various research advisory groups across Canada and internationally, serves as an associate editor at Implementation Science Communications and represents her organization in the National Alliance of Provincial Health Research Organizations. She is an adjunct professor at SFU’s Faculty of Health Sciences and UBC’s School of Population and Public Health, and holds a Chartered Director designation from the Degroote School of Business Directors College at McMaster University.

Bev is an advisor to funders interested in embracing their role as change agents to ensure citizens get maximum benefit from research investments. She publishes on and speaks about the importance of research systems, and the need for all stakeholder groups to play their part in the generation and use of knowledge to improve health and health care. In all this work, her intent is to be respectfully – but insistently – provocative.

As President & CEO of Michael Smith Health Research BC, Bev feels privileged to work with an outstanding Board, leadership team and staff group, and is committed to bringing evidence to her organization’s own practices towards strengthening British Columbia’s health research system.

Bev was previously the CEO of Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research and has held a number of management positions in non-profit agencies. She received her MA and PhD from SFU’s School of Communication. Her research interests are knowledge translation, discourse analysis, health and risk communication, and public involvement in health research.

Bev and her partner have four children and one grandchild (so far); they love swimming, cryptic crosswords and spending time outdoors with their family on the lands where they gratefully live, work, and play: the traditional unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) First Nations; the traditional, unceded territory of the K’ómoks First Nation, and the traditional territory of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in.

Senior Leadership Team

Stirling Bryan, PhD, FCAHS

Chief Scientific Officer

Stirling Bryan is a health economist with extensive experience of engagement with the health policy and decision-making worlds. He began his career in the United Kingdom with appointments at St Thomas’ Hospital Medical School and then Brunel University, before moving to the University of Birmingham in 1997.

His research track-record reveals a long-standing goal of informing health policy and practice, demonstrated, in part, through an extensive engagement with the National Institute for Health & Care Excellence (NICE). In 2005 he was awarded a Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellowship and spent one year at Stanford University, researching health technology coverage decision making in US health care organizations.

Stirling immigrated to Canada in 2008, taking on the roles of professor in UBC’s School of Population and Public Health, and director of the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology & Evaluation (C2E2). He provided leadership for C2E2 through until 2018 and remains a senior scientist at the Centre where his research lab and team are located. Over recent years, he has become a strong advocate for, and practitioner of, patient-oriented research, and now partners with patients in all of his research activities.

In 2016, he was appointed scientific director for the BC SUPPORT Unit, a component part of BC’s Academic Health Science Network (BC AHSN) focused on promoting patient-oriented research, and in January 2020 stepped into the leadership role as president for BC AHSN. He was in this role until September 2021, helping to navigate the course through to consolidation of BC AHSN with the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.

Stirling is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and recently completed his term as chair of the Advisory Board for CIHR’s Institute for Health Services & Policy Research. He currently serves as president elect for the Canadian Association for Health Services & Policy Research, and is co-editor for the Wiley-published journal, Health Economics.

Stirling and his partner have two sons and one dog. Weekends are typically spent enjoying the company of friends and family and experiencing the beauty and wonders of British Columbia through hiking, snowshoeing, and skiing.

Senior Leadership Team

Cecillia Colbeck, CPA, CGA

Chief Financial Officer

As chief financial officer, Cecillia is a leader focused on the strategy, implementation and management of the finance, information technology, and corporate services activities. She leads a team to develop and implement financial strategies and tactics that support Michael Smith Health Research BC to strengthen British Columbia’s health research system.

Cecillia is an advocate of a continuous improvement mindset supported by her 20+ years’ experience in global technology and innovation companies. She spent many of these years designing and implementing executive decision-making processes and tools based on evidence and analytics as touchstones. These past experiences help to ensure that appropriate decisions are made for the best use of available resources and funds to promote healthy British Columbians.

As CFO, Cecillia is committed to her fiduciary responsibilities by creating a collaborative, inclusive and diverse working environment. She enjoys working closely with her executive colleagues, board members, and staff teams to achieve strategic objectives.

Cecillia is a Chartered Professional Accountant and also holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Business Administration from UBC. She has completed an Executive Program in business analytics at the Wharton School of Business where she translated her learnings into real life business cases.

Cecillia and her partner love to spend time traveling and hiking and also quiet time reading and watching science fiction programs.

Senior Leadership Team

Terri Fleming, MBA

Unit Director, Research Ethics BC

Terri is highly committed to creating efficiencies in processes wherever she can. She demonstrated this most effectively when leading the development of a harmonized research ethics process for BC. As the unit director for Research Ethics BC, Terri brings a range of expertise with research from Clinical Quality Assurance manager for clinical trials, through to manager of Research Ethics and Compliance with a health authority.

Terri earned an MBA from Liverpool John Moore’s University in business change management, and two qualifications in Project Management and uses this knowledge to further develop her leadership skills. Her international work experience has provided the foundation of her skills including engaging with diverse stakeholders in major change projects. Her work to develop and implement a program of change in a local authority in Wales, UK resulted in mobile and home working solutions, and electronic data and record management systems.

Terri now makes her home on Vancouver Island, acknowledging with gratitude and humility that she is a guest on the traditional lands of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples, known today as the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations.

Terri is most relaxed with a set of knitting needles in hand, and a pile of yarn at her feet waiting for a great idea to take shape, but has recently added gardening to her list of hobbies where she can lean into her more creative side.

Senior Leadership Team

Chonnettia Jones, PhD

Vice President, Research

Having worked for research funders in the US, UK/Europe and Canada, Chonnettia brings more than 20 years of experience in science and health strategy, funding and policy to enable world-class research.

As vice president, research at Michael Smith Health Research BC, Chonnettia oversees the organization’s research portfolio, and directs the research strategy, funding programs and strategic partnerships to maximize British Columbia’s investments in health research.

Chonnettia initially trained as a developmental biologist with interests in the molecular and cellular mechanisms regulating neural development. Following postdoctoral studies, Chonnettia managed an international research program at the Janelia Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute that developed innovative tools for scientific research. Chonnettia went on to progressively senior roles at the Wellcome Trust in London, where as a member of the executive leadership team, she provided strategic leadership to maximize the impact of Wellcome’s funding and strategic initiatives in global health research.

Advocating for more empirical evidence to inform effective practices in research funding and maximize the impact of future investments in research, Chonnettia is a founding partner of the Research on Research Institute, an international consortium of funders, technologists and academics working in collaboration on a translational research agenda to make research systems more effective, equitable, diverse and inclusive.

Chonnettia serves on a number of international advisory boards on scholarly publishing, open research, responsible research assessment and anti-racism in research. A self-ascribed unapologetic positive disruptor, Chonnettia speaks internationally on issues central to research, including equity, diversity and inclusion, conceptualizations of research excellence, and systemic inequities in research.

In her free time, Chonnettia enjoys learning about peoples and cultures around the world, whether through international travel, entertainment or reading. But she feels the most fulfilled through her mentorship of emerging inclusive leaders.

Senior Leadership Team

Danielle Lavallee, PharmD, PhD

Scientific Director

Danielle is a patient-oriented researcher and leader with expertise working across health system and academic communities to support health care transformation.

Over the past 15 years, Danielle has centred her work to advance methods that incorporate patient and stakeholder perspectives into both clinical care and research conduct. Her research includes assessing diverse stakeholder experiences with technology-enabled approaches to supporting care, integration and governance of patient generated health data into healthcare systems, and methods for supporting patient involvement research conduct.

As Scientific Director for Michael Smith Health Research BC and the BC SUPPORT Unit, Danielle provides leadership across the organization to foster a patient-oriented approach to research and learning health systems. She is an adjunct professor at UBC’s School of Population and Public Health, and affiliate associate professor in the department of Health Systems and Population Health at the University of Washington. Danielle holds a Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Kansas and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Health Services Research from the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Senior Leadership Team

Alison Orth, BBA, CCRC

Unit Director, Clinical Trials BC

Alison is a health research leader committed to quality, integrity, patient engagement and continuous improvement. She has over 25 years of experience leading health research teams at community, academic and hospital sites in public and private organizations. Since her early days as a research assistant at BC Children’s Hospital, Alison has facilitated over 80 industry and grant-funded research and evaluation studies.

Recently Alison led a national initiative to engage research participants about their clinical research experience to enhance patient and public participation in trials and improve their overall experience as a participant.

Alison holds a business degree from Simon Fraser University and is an ACRP certified clinical research professional. She currently serves on several provincial and national committees dedicated to supporting the advancement of and engagement in clinical trials. She is a Board Director of the Canadian Clinical Trials Coordinating Centre and the Peace Arch Hospice Society.

Alison lives in South Surrey with her partner, two sons, and a Havanese dog. You will find them on the soccer pitch, at the beach, or with extended family and friends, where they are thankful for the ability to live, work, and play on the traditional, unceded territories of the SEMYONE (Semiahmoo) First Nation and the broader territory of the Coast Salish Peoples.

Senior Leadership Team

Zena Sharman, PhD

Executive Lead, Organizational Transformation and Integration

Zena is an experienced leader and strategist who is adept at working with complexity, facilitating organizational learning, adaptation, and continuous improvement, and building thriving, inclusive teams. She’s worked in the health research funding sector at provincial and national levels since 2008; prior roles include director, strategy at the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research and assistant director of the CIHR Institute of Gender and Health. Trained as a qualitative researcher, Zena has a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of British Columbia.

Zena is passionate about contributing to the development of a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive health research funding sector. In addition to her role at Health Research BC, Zena is a writer, speaker, and LGBTQ+ health advocate. She’s published three books, including The Care We Dream Of: Liberatory and Transformative Approaches to LGBTQ+ Health (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2021) and the Lambda Literary award-winning anthology, The Remedy: Queer and Trans Voices on Health and Health Care (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2016).

Senior Leadership Team

Julia White

Director, Communications

Julia is a communications and marketing leader in health and science innovation. She is a trusted advisor on strategic communications, especially around complex issues where multiple stakeholders are involved. She brings a unique combination of experience having worked in public and private organizations over the past 20 years.

As Director of Communications at Michael Smith Health Research BC, Julia leads a large portfolio including communications, marketing, and stakeholder relations. Her mission is to bring vision, creativity, and expertise to advance the organization’s impacts and develop the brand story for the new organization. She leads and mentors a team responsible for an array of initiatives and programs, including government relations, corporate storytelling, brand development and advancement, stakeholder engagement, and digital marketing.

Prior to this role, she had increasingly senior communications roles at adMare BioInnovations, Genome British Columbia, and the University of British Columbia’s Office of Community Affairs.

In her personal time, Julia enjoys traveling the world with her husband and exploring new cultures. On a typical west coast weekend, you can find her with a cup of coffee, a crossword, and a political thriller novel.

Joining forces to serve
our vibrant health
research community

The Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR) and the British Columbia Academic Health Science Network (BC AHSN) have joined forces to create a dynamic and integrated health research organization, Michael Smith Health Research BC, to support the growth and evolution of BC’s vibrant health research system and life sciences sector.

About the consolidation

The impetus for consolidating MSFHR and BC AHSN was synergy — which literally means the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations (in this case) to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects. This concept was captured into the new brand, a mosaic and kaleidoscope of colour that together are greater than the sum of its parts. The top right corner creates an upward pointing arrow that forms a distinct, identifiable mark while evoking the idea of forward motion and innovation.

Read the full news release of the October 13 consolidation announcement here

As one organization — and embracing a dual role of “doing” and “influencing” — we are in a much stronger position to work with our partners and stakeholders to strengthen research capacity across the province, support evidence-informed decision making in health care, increase the competitiveness of our life sciences sector, and maximize the social and economic benefits of health research in BC.

Although we have a new name, all current funding programs historically offered by MSFHR are running as scheduled; the work of the BC SUPPORT Unit, Clinical Trials BC, and Research Ethics BC is moving forward as planned; and the organization continues to drive knowledge translation to improve the use of research evidence in practice and policy. Programs will continue to support equity, diversity, and inclusion, which is important to nurture inclusive excellence, which in turn drives discovery and helps build a more innovative and impactful health research system.

Funding BC SUPPORT Unit Research Ethics BC Clinical Trials BC

About this website

Over the next year, the existing websites of Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research and British Columbia Academic Health Science Network will be consolidated here under Michael Smith Health Research BC. As we work to merge our websites, you may notice that some of the links navigate to the individual websites. You can also use the list of quick links below to navigate directly to the information you need.

Take me to MSFHR

If you are looking for information related to funding, visit the MSFHR site.

Visit site

Take me to BC AHSN

If you are looking for information related to patient-oriented research, clinical trials or ethics, visit the BC AHSN site.

Visit site

Quick Links

+

Funding Clinical Trials BC Events calendar BC SUPPORT Unit Careers Research Ethics BC

About us

Transition Board of Directors

Elinor Wilson

Chair

Richard Rees

Vice Chair

Max Blouw

Doug Cochrane

Kathryn Hayashi

Sunny Loo

Lyana Patrick

Geoff Payne

Ian Rongve

Martin Schechter

Sally Thorne

Senior Leadership Team

Bev Holmes, PhD, C. Dir

President & CEO

Stirling Bryan, PhD, FCAHS

Chief Scientific Officer

Cecillia Colbeck, CPA, CGA

Chief Financial Officer

Terri Fleming, MBA

Unit Director, Research Ethics BC

Chonnettia Jones, PhD

Vice President, Research

Danielle Lavallee, PharmD, PhD

Scientific Director

Alison Orth, BBA, CCRC

Unit Director, Clinical Trials BC

Zena Sharman, PhD

Executive Lead, Organizational Transformation and Integration

Julia White

Director, Communications

Contact us

We’re here to help. Whether you have questions about our funding programs, patient-oriented research programs, clinical trials, or harmonized ethics review process, connect with us at:

info@healthresearchbc.ca

info@msfhr.org

info@bcahsn.ca

1285 W Broadway #200
Vancouver, BC V6H 3X8

1367 W Broadway #420
Vancouver, BC V6H 4A7

About Michael Smith

Michael Smith Health Research BC is named in honour of BC’s first Nobel Laureate, Dr. Michael Smith. A pre-eminent chemist and molecular biologist, Dr. Smith was dedicated to building BC’s health research capacity and nurturing the next generation of research innovators. His distinguished career and longstanding commitment to supporting emerging scientific talent helped establish BC as a hub for world-class health research.